Charlie Company Completes FTX at Fort McCoy

Field Training Exercise

The cadets sat slumped over on their rucksacks, eager to cool down and quench their thirst. Two full days of exercises and drills had left them hungry and exhausted, and one final day of Field Training Exercise (FTX) still lay ahead. But while all the cadets showed signs of fatigue, not one looked ready to give up.

On the weekend of September 13-15, ROTC members from the universities of Maranatha, Whitewater, and Madison participated in the FTX at Fort McCoy.

FTX includes a variety of exercises designed to foster team unity, strengthen leadership skills, and build cadets’ self-confidence. These exercises consist of a confidence and conditioning course, land navigation, rifle range, field leader reaction course, and rappel tower.

Weekend Breakdown

Upon arriving at Fort McCoy, each cadet was assigned to a group containing students from each school represented. The groups consisted of three different platoons with four squads apiece. Each squad was led by a junior while the seniors planned and ran the weekend’s activities.

Friday afternoon started off with the confidence and conditioning course. Cadets clambered up ladders, inverted walls, and monkey bars, maneuvered through pipes, and participated in various rope challenges.

That night and the following afternoon, the cadets shifted their focus to Land Navigation. Each squad received a map of points plotted throughout the woods. They then had to locate each point using only the map, a compass, and a protractor. But this was no walk in the park. The cadets hiked for hours in the heat, up steep hills and through thorny woods.

Saturday morning added something new—the rifle range. The range involved two different types of targets. The first was a single 25-meter zeroing target. Using the target’s grid, the cadets calculated where to aim and how to improve their shot. They then moved on to 25-meter qualifying targets. They shot this round in three different positions—supported, unsupported, and on one knee. Cadets Fredrickson, Graham, and Spurlock all agreed this was one of their favorite activities.

The field leader reaction course was yet another event in which the cadets participated. Each squad was given a unique scenario as well as a certain amount of supplies. They had to work together as a team to meet a specific goal within a time limit.

The rappel tower was the final event of the weekend. This exercise is rather straightforward: the cadets had to use a rope to rappel down a 55-foot tower. 

Purpose

Each event had its own purpose, but there was an overarching goal for the entire weekend.

Captain Bates of the Whitewater program sums up the FTX’s purpose in one word: “confidence.” The FTX provides familiarizes cadets with the events required at advanced camp. If they fail advanced camp, they will not be commissioned as officers.

Response

All of the FTX events included physical and mental challenges, but each day the cadets strove to accomplish their goals. Looking back on the weekend, Junior Thomas Graham said that his favorite memory was “seeing people accomplish things they didn’t think they could accomplish.”

They bravely overcame the heat, rain, woods, self-doubt and uncertainty. It was often during these difficult times that cadets learned the most.

After experiencing challenges of his own, Graham stated, “Sometimes failure is the best teacher.”

And some did experience defeat during FTX. But if the cadets learned nothing else from the weekend at Fort McCoy, hopefully they walked away confident that these momentary failures will ultimately make them stronger.